It is that time of year when stock agencies report on image trends they expect to see in the coming year. The purpose of these reports is to help photographers focus their production on the subject matter the agencies think will be in demand in the coming year.
Here are links to a few of the trend reports you may want to take a look at.
Getty Images
http://visualtrends.gettyimages.com/
Alamy
http://www.alamy.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/ImageTrends3-Jan2018-150dpi.pdf
Arcangel
https://view.joomag.com/january-2018-contributor-trend-report/M0339179001516705980
I’ve previously reported on trend reports from
Adobe Stock and
Shutterstock.
As I look at these reports, and some of the images they offer as examples, I’ve got to ask,
Are These Images Actually Selling?
I often think that the agencies may have had occasional demands for some of the concepts they have decided to focus on, but they haven’t made many sales. They think, “If we just had more of this subject matter we would make more sales.” I wonder. Maybe the customers are floundering around and don’t really know what they want to illustrate some of these weird concepts.
I would like to see the agencies supply a selection of images that were actually licensed in 2017 along with the relative demand (in terms of number of licenses) of different subject matter like: office situations, large groups in offices, office workers with computers, office workers with cell phones, family groups, family play, crowds on the street, food shots no people, food shots with people, African wildlife, other wildlife, beach scenes, sunsets, iconic locations in major cities – you get the idea.
With that kind of information stock photographers might have a better idea of the relative demand for certain subjects; where they should focus their time and efforts and how best to address each type of subject matter to produce the kind of images that seem to work.
I often think that what agencies are really saying with their trend reports is: “We’ve got enough of the high demand stuff. What we really need are new ideas and concepts. Here are some of the things we like. Maybe our customers will too.”
Good luck in gleaning something useful out of these trend reports.